Selling and Buying a Home
Real-life advice for buying and selling a home
Welcome to the Selling and Buying a Home blog.
My name is Leah Ingram, and, together with my husband, I’ve bought and sold eight homes in the past 20 years. One of those homes we built new.
My husband and I are also the DIY type. We’ve renovated nearly every home we’ve owned. This includes upgrading bathrooms, redoing a kitchen down to the studs and painting a home, top to bottom.
In addition to my personal experience as a homeowner, I’m a writer that has covered real estate for national publications.
For more than a decade I wrote about celebrity real estate, home-buying trends, money-saving tips for moving, curb appeal and more for NBC Universal and Parade Magazine.
Now I’m bringing my aspirational but authoritative and approachable take on selling and buying a home to my own blog. I’m going to share with you what works (and what doesn’t ) when selling a home as well as when you’re buying a home.
Rather than telling you what you want to hear, I’m going to tell you what you need to hear if you want to get a good price on a home you’re selling or buying. Basically, I’m going to cut through the BS and give you real-life, attainable advice that’s applicable to both buyers and sellers.
However, this is hardly my only blog. I’ve been covering personal finance for nearly as long as I’ve been selling and buying homes. Once we were suddenly frugal. These days we’re real sophisticated consumers.
You’re welcome to read my other blog The Real Sophisticated Consumer here.
What Not to Fix When Selling a House
Selling your home? Don’t stress about your to-do list of things to fix before selling a house. These are home improvements that aren’t worth doing in today’s real estate market. That’s because you’ll never get your investment back. In a different market, these were the…
How to Create a Black Accent Wall
What are your thoughts on using a black accent wall in your home? I’m always impressed when I see rooms with a wall like this. Why? Because it really stands out and can add a level of drama to an otherwise boring room. I mean,…
Real Estate Words that Sell
Recently, I got to thinking about real estate words that sell versus real estate words that make for an interesting listing. I mean, sometimes it’s appropriate to add buzz words to your real estate listing. Then again, sometimes those buzzy words can work against you….
How to Put a Rug Under a Bed
It wasn’t until we worked with a professional stager that we even knew there were rugs under bed rules. That is, in order to make a bedroom look magazine worthy, there were certain ways and places to put a rug under a bed. She helped…
Horror Movie Houses in Real Life
Growing up on New York’s Long Island, everyone knew our area had one of the most famous horror movie houses of all time. Known as the Amityville House, it was the site of a real-life horror, a murder. Amityville is a real town on Long…
Summer Real Estate Tips
This blog post focuses on summer real estate tips. Why summer? Well, for a few reasons. One, each real estate season is unique. That means that winter real estate is different from spring real estate, which is different from summer real estate? And, two, summer…
What Accepting Backup Offers and Other Real Estate Terms Mean
Lately, I’ve noticed a new phrase showing up in real estate listings: accepting backup offers. This is a term I’ve never seen before. However, the more I look, the more I see it. Mostly, the term accepting back up offers shows up as soon as…
Autumn Real Estate Market This Year
What do you need to know about the autumn real estate market this year? Well, my unscientific research of home sales overall is that fall real estate this year will be nothing like the autumn real estate market last year. Why? Well, a few things….
Home Closing Checklist for Sellers
How I wish I’d had a home closing checklist for sellers. This became apparent last month when I was running around doing last minute things to get my home ready for the closing. I mean, the easy stuff was done, like get all of my…
Who am I?
I’m Leah Ingram, homeowner seven times over, author of 15 books and journalist, formerly covering real estate for NBC Universal and Parade Magazine.